FATAL FRAME (2014)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Mari Asato
Cast: Ayami Nakajo, Aoi Morikawa, Fujiko Kojima, Karen Miyama, Kasumi Yamaya, Minori Hagiwara, Yuri Nakamura, Kodai Asaka, Noriko Nakagoshi, Jun Miho
RunTime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Mature Content)
Released By: GV
Official Website: ww.encorefilms.com/fatalframe

Opening Day: 23 October 2014

Synopsis: The original game follows a heroine who uses a Camera Obscura that can photograph spirits. She engages with spirits in a dilapidated Japanese-style house and other settings that gave the title (and its many follow-ups) a particular Japanese ambiance. What sets this game apart from other survival-horror games is that instead of running from the ghosts, you have to face your fears head on by taking pictures of them. The most powerful way to banish a ghost is to take a picture of it right before it tries to kill you, hence the name of the series, Fatal Frame. Fatal Frame is set to terrify everyone this fall.

Movie Review:

Fatal Frame is a movie set in missionary girls' high school in an isolated mountainous town. It revolves around a girl named Michi, who seemed to have bewitched the entire girl population with her angelic looks and voice. A curse that is perpetuated by performing a photo-kissing ritual at the zero hour (midnight) has also seemed to have made a comeback. More and more girls fall trap to the 'curse' and disappear at their dormitories. All evidences points back at Michi, who is suspected to be the perpetrator of the curse and the cause of all the misfortunes.

For starters, one of the greatest criticisms for this movie is its weak, or rather, non-existent association with the original horror video game series. Marketing the movie as being 'based on best-selling horror video game' is possibly one of the most leading information. For avid gamers who were curious to find out how this survival game is depicted in the movie, you’ll surely get very disillusioned. This movie heavily focuses on the ‘curse’, that has absolutely no link to challenging the spirits face-to-face and destroying them with the Camera Obscura.

Putting that aside, the story was not particularly impressionable. It attempts at keeping up the suspense by nudging the narrative into new mysteries. Then, lending the power of the curious young girls who were very convicted that the curse should end with them, they eventually unraveled some chilling truths behind the ‘curse’. However, the story development lacked depth and even for the horror aspect, it was nothing near haunting.

The horror aspect of the movie heavily lacked in visual impact. Yes, it’s obvious that the pale looking figure with the death stare is the spirit, but there weren’t any more to that. Adding CGI also backfired as they accented the weakness instead of intensifying the impact. Contrary to the supposedly anticipated horror impact, some of the scenes were so nonsensical they come across as laughable.

As it turns out, Fatal Frame has abandoned the entire survival game concept to give focus on the lesbian fantasy and sisterly ties. Neither impressionable on the horror nor the drama, Fatal Frame is one easily forgotten entry. And so, what’s so fatal about it anyway?

Movie Rating:

(Dull and uninteresting. How is it fatal? That it kills all interest and curiosity for the movie)

Review by Tho Shu Ling